Live Tournament Updates
Final Table of the Borgata Poker Open Set
Level 30: 60,000-120,000, 10,000 ante
Driven by a unique guaranteed $5 million dollar prize pool, an impressive 516 players came to the Borgata four days ago to battle it out at one of the premier stops on the World Poker Tour. Last year, Roy Winston battled amateur Scotty Yoon heads up to take down the 2007 Borgata Poker Open. Now six new hopefuls have their chance to lock up the lion’s share of the guaranteed prize pool and 2008 title, including the incredible $1,424,500 first prize. Twenty-seven players started the day at three tables in the back of the Borgata’s luxurious poker room, giving fans a chance to gather around the rail and watch some of poker’s superstars battle it out in America’s Playground. Fans would see the early exit of Ted Forrest, one of poker’s elite players , as he went broke on the first hand of the day. Never a more painful elimination, Forrest’s aces were cracked after he was all in preflop against the set of Thayer Rasmussen. Forrest would not be the only big name to make an early exit as both Nam Le and Chris Bell were eliminated in the first level of play. It wasn’t much longer until action was reduced to two nine-handed tables where one particularly interesting match up occurred. Online professionals, business partners, and close friends, Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar and Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen were seated directly next to one another and apparently cut all loyalties once they sat at the table. Vivek was able to get the best of his friend as he eliminated Thayer in 12th place. Not only did Vivek take out his friend, but he then continued to roll into ten-handed play, eliminating three out of four players to reach the final six. Vivek will face tough competition at the final table where he will find two time-bracelet winner and WPT final table veteran in Mark Seif, long-time professional Dan Heimiller, and three amateurs that have proven this week that they deserve to be completing at the highest level. Here are the final table seating assignments along with the chip counts for each player: Seat 1: Vivek Rajkumar – 6,480,000 Seat 2: Dan Heimiller – 3,360,000 Seat 3: Andrew Knee – 1,475,000 Seat 4: Mark Seif – 4,665,000 Seat 5: Jason Strochak – 1,650,000 Seat 6: Sang Kim – 3,085,000 The final table will begin at 4:00pm ET in the Ballroom of the Borgata. Make sure to check back to follow all the action with hand by hand coverage and up to the minute chip counts at www.worldpokertour.com ******** Live Updates, chip counts, and interviews provided by BJ Nemeth, Andy Liakos, Tom Bostic and Amanda Leatherman.
Sorted In: Tournaments, Borgata, Season VII, Borgata Poker Open01:39 AM, 09/18/08
Vivek Rajkumar - 6,480,000
Level 30: 60,000-120,000, 10,000 ante
Video description: Vivek Rajkumar enters his first WPT Final Table as the chipleader with 6,480,000.
Sorted In: Tournaments, Borgata, Season VII, Borgata Poker Open
01:34 AM, 09/18/08
Mark Seif - 4,665,000
Level 30: 60,000-120,000, 10,000 ante
Video description: Mark Seif enters his third WPT Final Table second in chips with 4,665,000.
Sorted In: Tournaments, Borgata, Season VII, Borgata Poker Open
01:33 AM, 09/18/08
Dan Heimiller - 3,360,000
Level 30: 60,000-120,000, 10,000 ante
Video description: Dan Heimiller enters his first WPT Final Table third in chips with 3,360,000.
Sorted In: Tournaments, Borgata, Season VII, Borgata Poker Open
01:22 AM, 09/18/08
Sang Kim - 3,085,000
Level 30: 60,000-120,000, 10,000 ante
Video description: Sang Kim enters his first WPT Final Table fourth in chips with 3,085,000.
Sorted In: Tournaments, Borgata, Season VII, Borgata Poker Open
01:21 AM, 09/18/08
Jason Strochak - 1,650,000
Level 30: 60,000-120,000, 10,000 ante
Video description: Jason Strochak enters his first WPT Final Table fifth in chips with 1,650,000.
Sorted In: Tournaments, Borgata, Season VII, Borgata Poker Open
01:20 AM, 09/18/08
Andrew Knee - 1,475,000
Level 30: 60,000-120,000, 10,000 ante
Video description: Andrew enters his first WPT Final Table as the short stack with 1,475,000.
Sorted In: Tournaments, Borgata, Season VII, Borgata Poker Open
01:19 AM, 09/18/08
Official Seating & Chip Counts
Level 30: 60,000-120,000, 10,000 ante
Here are the official chip counts and seats for tomorrow evening's televised WPT Final Table: 1. Vivek Rajkumar - 6,480,000 2. Dan Heimiller - 3,360,000 3. Andrew Knee - 1,475,000 4. Mark Seif - 4,665,000 5. Jason Strochak - 1,650,000 6. Sang Kim - 3,085,000 The action resumes tomorrow at 4:00 pm ET. Return to WorldPokerTour.com for live hand-by-hand coverage of all the action with constantly updated chip counts. A recap of today's action and bios of the final tablists will be posted later tonight.
Sorted In: Tournaments, Borgata, Season VII, Borgata Poker Open10:37 PM, 09/17/08
Hand #108: John Myung Eliminated in 7th Place ($187,500)
Level 30: 60,000-120,000, 10,000 ante
Video description: Level 30: Blinds at 60,000-120,000 (10,000 ante) Hand #108 - John Myung has the button in seat 8, he raises to 310,000, Vivek Rajkumar reraises from the small blind to 915,000, Myung moves all in, and Rajkumar insta-calls with [QdQh]. Myung shows [KhQc], and he's drawing thin to stay alive. The board comes [7h4c4d5d6h], and Vivek Rajkumar wins the pot with his pocket queens. John Myung is eliminated in seventh place, earning $187,500. The final six players are now filling out WPT bio sheets and verifying their chip counts. Official chip counts will be posted soon.
Sorted In: Tournaments, Borgata, Season VII, Borgata Poker Open
10:27 PM, 09/17/08
Final 7 Players: Hands #106-107
Level 30: 60,000-120,000, 10,000 ante
Level 30: Blinds at 60,000-120,000 (10,000 ante) Hand #106 - Jason Strochak has the button in seat 6, Sang Kim raises from the small blind to 245,000, John Myung reraises from the big blind to 745,000, and Kim folds. John Myung takes the pot. Hand #107 - Sang Kim has the button in seat 7, and everyone folds to Vivek Rajkumar, giving him a walk in the big blind. Rajkumar shows J-J as he collects the chips.
Sorted In: Tournaments, Borgata, Season VII, Borgata Poker Open10:24 PM, 09/17/08
